C.1.d - 1805 Waterston Ave - citizen comment — original pdf

Backup

Clarksville. C.1. PR-2021-055578, 1805 Waterston Avenue My name is Mary Reed and I am speaking on behalf of the Clarksville Community Development Corporation (CCDC) as its board president. We are the neighborhood organization for historic We oppose release of a demo permit for 1805 Waterston Avenue for several reasons in addition to the fact that the home contributes to the Clarksville National Register Historic District. • First, the home at this address is not in a state of disrepair – it’s a fully remodeled home that Nalle Custom Homes purchased for over a million dollars! • Second, it makes no sense from an environmental standpoint to send a perfectly good house to the landfill. • Third, the new house Nalle wants to build will make Clarksville even less affordable than it is now and may very well force some current residents who are already struggling with the cost of housing in the neighborhood to move. • And finally, Nalle’s proposed new home is totally inappropriate for Clarksville. For starters, it’s too busy, too big, too tall, it’s architecture is incompatible with the simple traditional architecture of the neighborhood, it features brick accents and a brick chimney – brick is not a building material used in Clarksville -- and it has double front-facing garages. The house design may be appropriate for Tarrytown, Westlake, or suburbia, but not for Clarksville. Since June 3, when representatives of the CCDC first met with Jesse Nalle of Nalle Custom Homes, we have tried to get the company to revise its plans to make them more Clarksville. We provided him with specific suggestions and also recommended that he drive around Clarksville to get a sense of the neighborhood. Initially, Mr. Nalle appeared very open to our thoughts and ideas and said that he would send us new plans based on our comments. Over the ensuing months in email exchanges with him, he repeatedly promised that new plans would be coming, but we have seen nothing. In fact, the drawings in the backup materials for this case are exactly what we saw when we met with Mr. Nalle nearly four months ago. The CCDC asks that therefore that you deny the requested demo permit and ask Nalle Custom Homes to meet with members of the Architectural Review Committee for specific guidance on designing a home that is in keeping with historic Clarksville. Thank you.